Field of Invention
The invention generally relates to controlling one or more environmental conditions in a structure, and, more specifically, to techniques for automatically adjusting airflow from a common environmental control system into one or more spaces of a structure.
Description of Related Art
Heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) systems are designed to maintain the health and safety of building conditions by regulating environmental variables such as temperature and humidity. Some buildings have multiple spaces or zones, the environmental conditions of which are controlled by multiple, independent, HVAC systems. For example, a building may have several floors, and each floor may have its own HVAC system.
In addition, an HVAC system can be designed to provide air flow to each space or zone (e.g., a room) within the building. In such systems, a central control unit that it part of the HVAC system can control air flow in parts of the HVAC distribution system to selectively supply air to one space or zone but not another. For example, a main air supply duct can have two branches in which each branch leads to a different room. Each of the branches can have a damper that prevents air flow through the branch. If the HVAC system detects that one room requires cooling air while the other does not, it will close the damper to the room not requiring cooling and open the damper to the room that requires cooling.